PAS has threatened to cite Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) for contempt of court over its statement denouncing a syariah court’s decision to convict two women for attempting to have homosexual relations.
The party's secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan urged Suhakam chairperson Razali Ismail to retract the commission's statement yesterday, which condemned the conviction as inhumane punishment and a form of torture.
"A Syariah High Court in Terengganu has convicted two women for attempting to have homosexual relations. From the information we obtained, both women had pleaded guilty in court," he said.
"They were charged under the Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment (Takzir) (Terengganu) whereby the court is allowed to impose a maximum punishment of three years’ jail, RM5,000 in fines and six strokes of rotan."
According to him, the women were each fined RM3,300 and ordered to be punished with six strokes of the cane, which is within the jurisdiction of the syariah court.
"PAS rejects and is against the contemptuous statement by the Suhakam chairperson," the Kota Bharu MP told reporters at the parliament lobby today.
"If he doesn't retract the statement, maybe we will do something."
The syariah court can summon the person and send him or her to jail for contempt of court, he added.
Yesterday, Razali said the sentence was a form of humiliation, that it was demeaning and an attempt to publicly embarrass the women and their families.
This was said within the context that Suhakam was against caning as a form of punishment because it was cruel and inhumane.
"The interpretation of punishment in religion applied historically cannot ignore evolutions of society and standards, as well as the inexorable passage of civilisation," said Razali.
He said that the Attorney-General's Chambers' statement in February that caning under the Syariah legal system was performed as "humanely as possible" was an immaterial and obsolete argument.
"Suhakam also calls on LGBT persons to exercise temperance and moderation, as well as to keep their lifestyle choices private, in a society and environment that is only beginning to take into account diversified choices.
"Suhakam understands that this position is less than ideal, but necessary in the religious and cultural context of Malaysia," said Razali. -Mkini
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